Thursday, October 2, 2014

If you are new to the world of Sherlock Holmes, you may not know about the Baker Street Irregulars. In the original 56 short stories and the four novellas penned by Dr. Watson, they only appear in A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, and in “The Crooked Man.” In Watson’s narratives, these “street-Arabs” performed an invaluable service to Sherlock Holmes. “They can go everywhere, see everything, overhear every one.” While it is true they were paid a shilling for their services, suffice it to say, they enjoyed the adventure that awaited them whenever Holmes would summon them. The same may be said for their modern counterparts, “The Baker Street Irregulars of New York.” Neither of the “Irregular” groups do/did what they do for personal gain — they participated because they enjoyed it.

In late 1976, two old friends were discussing starting a Sherlock Holmes society. Several of the “writings about the writings” made reference to the society, but these references were in the present tense in the older tomes. Did they still exist, we contemplated? Christopher Morley formed the Irregulars with several friends of like mind, to gather socially and discuss Sherlock Holmes in 1934. The purpose of these modern day irregulars who meet annually, by invitation only, is to keep green the memory of Sherlock Holmes. The most asked question about any group of people who gather to discuss Sherlock Holmes is why? The answer is elementary. They gather to discuss Holmes and Watson because they enjoy it. That is the secret! The way in which the Irregulars and their scions participate may well have as many facets as the Countess of Morcar’s diamond. The parent society allows a group to be a scion so long as they do not disgrace the memory of Sherlock Holmes.

“The Occupants of the Empty House” was officially formed on 22nd January 1977. The scion has met monthly to discuss a different narrative of Dr. Watson. Most scions meet annually, some meet every other month, etc., etc. In order to succeed, the scion must first meet the needs of the membership. We discovered our need – in 1977 – was to read all of the 60 narratives of Dr. Watson reading one each month, and having someone lead the discussion on the selected tale. Since there are 60 titles, and there are only 12 months in the year, it takes 5 years to cover them all. This is our focus to this day. However, some groups form as a social club, others may hold Victorian costume contests, or murder mysteries, while others may study the films and television Holmes. There are no set rules, except to enjoy the prime detective. People tend to shy away from something when they do not enjoy what they are doing; thus, the cardinal rule is to discover what the group enjoy, and to be flexible.

The evolution of “The Occupants of the Empty House” was quite by accident. As I mentioned above, I had read about the Baker Street Irregulars of New York in William S. Baring-Gould’s The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. It was all that was available to us then. In February of 1977, a gentleman named Newt Williams came to our second meeting, and we learned that “Irregulars” did exist. In fact, he knew some “Irregulars,” and he had corresponded with them through what is known today as “snail mail.” Have you ever heard about a cache of correspondence between two people being recovered by someone, and the wealth of history that was gathered from those letters changing our perception of someone or some event? It may have been slow, but there was a permanence to those letters, written or typed onto paper and passed through many hands before they reach it's destination. It was and is a very personal way of correspondence. Thus, to this date we have mailed the Camden House Journal to our subscribers each month, allowing them to be a part of our meetings. We will continue the practice as long as we can, but due to popular demand we have added a blog in an effort to draw new readers to Camden House, so that they can learn what we have discovered. Holmes is where the heart is.

What does a scion society do? To be honest, whatever they want so long as their goal is to keep green the memory of Holmes and Watson. It is important that each scion develop it's own style. Trying to force a scion in a direction that the members do not enjoy will destroy the society. “The Occupants of the Empty House” do what we do because we love doing it. Everything that the members do is voluntary. Each member plays his/her own significant role. With our membership, this significance is relative to what we have accomplished. Someone who listens to the presentation and adds to the discussion is just as important as the main presenter. Although we do have officers, any visitor would be hard pressed to guess who they are. It would be fitting to describe our scion as a democracy in its purest form. That is not to say other forms will not work for us, but it is what evolved through time. In the same manner, our form may not work in any other society. Therefore, a successful scion just needs to enjoy what develops as it evolves. Again, the most important element -- the prime directive -- is “to enjoy the prime detective.”

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Driving cross country to a Sherlockian event is always an adventure. Thus, the experienced traveler leaves early. Such was the case on Wednesday, as Gordon and I left the St. Louis area at about 3:30 P.M. and headed down I-70 East toward Terre Haute, Indiana, our first stop on the 6-hour trip to Bloomington, Indiana. It was a good stop for we needed to rest. Nice people, great breakfast, and we were on the road the next morning by 9:30. The young lady’s voice on the Garmin was reassuring as we traveled the country byways south of exit 23 toward Bloomington. We needed to be there by 11:30 for the BSI luncheon, and we had time to spare. But some encountered closed roads and had to backtrack. Still others followed a house being moved down the highway at an extremely slow rate of speed impeding their progress toward Bloomington. But most, most were on time.

The first portion of the program was Henry Boote, the BSI’s musical director. He regaled us with music written by some of the Hoosier states most prolific composers. Right in the middle of the first medley, I realized that Cole Porter must have been a Sherlockian. It was vividly clear. Why was I the only one to hear the clue.

Cole Albert Porter has written some very popular musicals for broadway, very extraordinary lyrics that struck a chord with the public. However, whence comes his inspiration? For one particular number the answer was elementary. He was reading The Sign of Four, or perhaps the American edition entitled The Sign of the Four. At any rate he was reading along in Watson’s narrative and Shelock Holmes injects, subcutaneously, a sever per-cent solution of cocaine. The composer was so excited. He would compose a song . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . . “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Isn’t it interesting that one can go to a Sherlockian conference and learn about the birth of a song. Ok, . . . . Ok, maybe it did not happen exactly that way, but think of the possibilities.

THE AFTERNOON

The afternoon segments took place in the Lilly Library. The staff once again offered an excellent program. A discussion of exceptional bookbinders and their wares was very informative. Joel Silver presented some of the rarest of the rare: A Shakespeare Folio; a Coverdale Bible (translated into the English language by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, 1535 edition); an original Beeton’s Christmas Annual from 1887 with A Study in Scarlet, etc.

The presentation for the evening was a screening of The Hound of the Baskervilles with Basil Rathbone, Richard Green, and Nigel Bruce. The film was presented as a 75th Anniversary of its first release.

“I believe in Sherlock Holmes.” These are the words uttered by a minimal character in the BBC series Sherlock. It pretty much sums up why Sherlockians attend conferences and seminars concerning Sherlock Holmes. This very spectre of the Great Detective has been responsible for vast numbers of societies dedicated to keeping green his memory. Some may shudder to think that without Sherlock Holmes, no one would remember Arthur Conan Doyle, but it is a distinct possibility. To be certain, Conan Doyle was a very good writer, but if it were not for the 60 narratives attributed to the pen of Dr. Watson, would any publisher have considered his other works? Would they have been purchased if the author was an unknown? These are the questions leading to our belief in Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle did not just write the Sherlock Holmes saga, but he gave it a life of its own. He inspired others to write about his writing in such a way that the characters live on in the hearts and minds of the readers to this day.
The essence of why I believe in Sherlock Holmes is that wherever one goes and broaches the subject of Sherlock Holmes, the oft posed question of “is he real” is invariably pursued. The answer is quite simply, “Yes.” He has impassioned our hearts, or as Vincent Starrett put it, “only those things the heart believes are true.” However, although Starrett so beautifully defined our affliction, it all started with a young scholar priest in England whose passion for Sherlock Holmes was only superseded by his love of his religious studies.
Ronald A. Knox was not the first to write a critique of the Sherlock Holmes canon. However, some could easily argue that he made the “game” popular with his essay “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes.” The accomplishment of Knox in the critiques of the existing Canon, was similar to the popularity of baseball after George Herman Ruth started to play for the Yankees. Ruth did not invent baseball, he was not the first player to play the game, nor was he the first to hit a home run. But he did make the game popular, creating a love for the game that exists to this day. It is probable that even baseball historians do not know who was the first to hit a home run. And although many batters have broken Ruth’s record 60 home runs, most have been forgotten, or relegated to the realm of the longer schedule, steroid enhanced sluggers, etc., etc., etc. All remember Babe Ruth even though they were not born when he was king. The same can be said of Sherlock Holmes and the remarkable 60 adventures. Therefore, we can believe in Sherlock Holmes and we certainly believe in Babe Ruth.
The beauty of Knox’s contribution to the game is that he inspired so many to refute his claims in writing about the writings. Edgar W. Smith, the founder and first editor of The Baker Street Journal provided a platform for these views to be shared with the world. “The JOURNAL is dedicated to the proposition that there is still infinitely much to be said about the scene in Baker Street, and that it is of the first importance to safeguard the meritorious offerings laid upon our common shrine from that swift oblivion to which, by a heedless and unheeding world, they might otherwise be condemned. In that purpose and intent, which honors by its very terms the name and fame of Sherlock Holmes, the JOURNAL’S course of destiny will run.” To Edgar Smith, and those who followed him in the office of editor, it was a work of love.
Smith’s implicit love of Sherlock Holmes is evident in the second issue of the JOURNAL in 1944, where he writes:
We love the times in which he lived, of course: the half-remembered, half-forgotten times ‘of snug Victorian illusion, of gaslit comfort and contentment, of perfect dignity and grace. The world was poised precariously in balance, and rude Disturbances were coming with the years; but those who moved upon the scene were very sure that all was well: that nothing ever would be any worse nor ever could be any better. There was no threat to righteousness, and justice and the cause of peace on earth except from such as Moriarty and the lesser villains in his train. The cycle of events had come full turn, and the times were ripe for living-and for being lost. It is because their loss was suffered before they had been fully lived that they are times to which our hearts and longings cling.
And we love the place in which the master moved and had his being: the England of those times, fat with the fruits of her achievements, but strong and daring still with the spirit of imperial adventure. The seas were pounding, then as now, upon her coasts; the winds swept in across the moors, and fog came down on London. It was a stout and pleasant land, full of the flavor of the age; and it is small wonder that we who claim it in our thoughts should look to Baker Street as its epitome. For there the cabs rolled up before a certain door, and hurried steps were heard upon the stair, and The Baker Street Journal England and her times had rendezvous within a hallowed room, at once familiar and mysterious. . . .
But there is more than time and space and the yearning for things gone by to account for what we feel toward Sherlock Holmes. Not only there and then, but here and now, he stands before us as a symbol-a symbol, if you please, of all that we are not, but ever would be. His figure is sufficiently remote to make our secret aspirations for transference seem unshameful, yet close enough to give them plausibility. We see him as the fine expression of our urge to trample evil and to set aright the wrongs with which the world is plagued. He is Galahad and Socrates, bringing high adventure to our dull existences and calm, judicial logic to our biased minds. He is the success of all our failures; the bold escape from our imprisonment.
Or, if this be too complex a psychological basis to account for our devotion, let it be said, more simply, that he is the personification of something in us that we have lost, or never had. For it is not Sherlock Holmes who sits in Baker Street, comfortable, competent and self-assured; it is we ourselves who are there, full of a tremendous capacity for wisdom, complacent in the presence of our humble Watson, conscious of a warm well-being and a timeless, imperishable content. The easy chair in the room is drawn up to the hearthstone of our very hearts-it is our tobacco in the Persian slipper, and our violin lying so carelessly across the knee-it is we who hear the pounding on the stairs and the knock upon the door. The swirling fog without and the acrid smoke within bite deep indeed, for we taste them even now. And the time and place and all the great events are near and dear to us not because our memories call them forth in pure nostalgia, but because they are a part of us today.
That is the Sherlock Holmes we love-the Holmes implicit and eternal in ourselves.1
If you were able to find that his words echo in your heart of hearts, then it is evident that you too believe in Sherlock Holmes.
Mr. Smith was not alone in this endeavor, as was made very clear in the first issue of the “new Series” of The Baker Street Journal in 1951. Chicago book dealer, Ben Abramson, was the publisher of the first thirteen issues of what became known as the “old series” of the BSJ from 1946 to 1949. Edgar W. Smith recorded what occurred in the first issue of what is now known as the “new series.”
“Five years ago, an earnest and courageous follower of Sherlock Holmes undertook, wholly on his own financial responsibility, to give The Baker Street Irregulars a medium for their common expression and a meeting ground for their enjoyment. In launching the Irregular Quarterly as he did, Ben Abramson ventured nobly — but he ventured, it proved at mundane last, in vain. For never, as Christopher Morley put it, was so much written by so many for so few. The JOURNAL, costly in its dress and voluminous in its content, achieved an immediate success d’estime, but it languished painfully, through all the years, in revenue and circulation. Thirteen issues appeared in all — a total of 16814 pages about nothing in the world but Sherlock Holmes at a cost of much grinding labor to the volunteer editor into whose charge it was given, but at a cost of many thousands of dollars to the man who brought it into being and who kept it alive so long. For this unselfish devotion, against hopeless financial odds, the Irregulars can hold no feeling toward Ben Abramson but that of sympathy and gratitude.”2
There can be little doubt that Ben Abramson believed in Sherlock Holmes with such verve, because he was willing to invest heavily from his personal finances to bring The Baker Street Journal into reality. None will ever surpass Smith and Abromson’s devotion to the master, as it was clear that the editor and publisher believed that everyone would also exhibit the selfsame devotion to Sherlock Holmes that they felt.
How quickly we forget in a world where one can self publish on a computer, or print books as each order comes through, that a few years ago, the cost of a typeset manuscript could only be recouped if numerous copies were produced, and then succeeded in selling them all. Ben Abramson believed in Sherlock Holmes.
These self same feelings were in the hearts of all who play the game. John Bennett Shaw was one of the world’s finest collectors of things Sherlockian. However, he was much more than that. He was an encourager of anyone who expressed interest in Sherlock Holmes. All one need do is write a quick note to him, and in no time at all the answer was at hand. Shaw was fond of remarking that he had his own Zip code, because the volume of mail was so immense. He created a list of The Basic Holmesian Library consisting of 100 books that one should have in their library. There were some newer books on the list, but Shaw wanted everyone to know of their Sherlockian roots — those who believed in Sherlock Holmes one hundred years ago. Shaw too believed in Sherlock Holmes, and his passion was evident.
Michael Harrison originally trained to be an architect, worked as a code breaker during the war with a young man named Ian Fleming, and at Fleming's suggestion, he became a writer. Michael took on the task of writing many wonderful books on beer cookery, mysteries, on strumpets and kings, witchcraft, Frankenstein and his bride, and other subjects too numerous to mention. However, like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, when he was asked to write a biography of what he believed to be a “fictional character,” his popularity increased substantially. Although following in the footsteps of Ronald Knox, he completed his biography, injecting life into the characters once again. Through the years, Michael too learned to believe in Sherlock Holmes.
And so we return to the original premise — why do we believe in Sherlock Holmes? Although we may follow in the footsteps of those rare individuals mentioned above, and countless thousands we do not know about, we are here because of our hearts. There can be no doubt about the motive for those who start a scion society; those who join a scion; those who write a paper, whether in anticipation of publication, or for the enjoyment of a few; or, those who just attend meetings and seminars, and like Watson inspire others to shine. Let’s not forget those whose love extends to quizzes, to dressing as the characters in the Canon, who attempt to bust Sherlockian myths, and so many other numerous activities. Unfortunately, too many get caught up in the trend, and do not have the necessary ingredient to sustain their interest. Like Icarus, they fly too high, burn out and disappear from the scene. Those who remain, those who spend years of participation, do so because they believe in Sherlock Holmes. If you are reading this blog, I thank you for your attention; but most importantly, I thank you for believing in Sherlock Holmes – for why else would you be here?
If you were a bit hesitant to believe in Sherlock Holmes, perhaps these words will encourage you to investigate the writings of John H. Watson. You will not be disappointed.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

"The Occupants of theEmpty House" is a scion society of The Baker Street Irregulars. This month, we begin at the beginning, by studying Holmes and Watson's first case together. This was our first topic at our second monthly meeting held in February 1977. If you are new to the world of Sherlock Holmes, it is good to begin at the beginning. You will discover that the presentations do not have to be serious, though we are known for our scholarship, our goal is to make our members better writers and presenters of papers. Probably the best definition of the O.E.H., as we are known, is that we are discouragers of hesitancy — we encourage everyone to develop their own style at their own pace. This creates the variety that has allowed the scion to meet monthly since 22nd January 1977. If becoming a more expressive writer is your goal, Camden House is the place to meet.

Friday, August 29, 2014

A Study in Scarlet was not the first case of Sherlock Holmes, but it was the first case involving Dr. John H. Watson, M.D, late of the Army Medical Department. Before Watson set pen to paper, the world had no idea that Sherlock Holmes existed, nor that he was a private consulting detective; or, in his words, “the world’s first consulting detective.” It was Watson who recorded the case, and Watson’s personal observations of the great detective that sparked the reader’s interest in a new type of forensic detective. However, what if Dr. Watson had not survived the Battle of Maiwand? What if Dr. Watson had never met Sherlock Holmes? Camden House would not exist, and “The Occupants of the Empty House” would not have formed the bonds of friendship with those of like mind worldwide.
The Master of the Empty House
8th August 2014

About Me

The Occupants of the Empty House, the Southern Illinois Sherlock Holmes society, meets monthly at Alongi's restaurant in DuQuoin, Illinois. We are one of the most published societies in the world. At our meetings, guests may order dinner off the menu. Our meetings are casual, thus you decide what you wish to wear to the meeting. If you would like to discover how we have managed to meet monthly since 1977, you are more than welcome to attend. We promise great cuisine, thought provoking programs, and constructive criticism. All thoughts contained in the presentations are accepted. Each month a volunteer looks into one of the 60 cases written by Dr. Watson following the original Annotated Sherlock Holmes order. Check the blog for the meeting date and location each month.